Mystery Of Ancient Supercontinent's Demise Revealed

[Dover]

ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2008) — In a paper published in Geophysical Journal International,
Dr Graeme Eagles from the Earth Sciences Department at Royal Holloway, University of London,
reveals how one of the largest continents ever to exist met its demise.



Gondwana was a ‘supercontinent’ that existed between 500 and 180 million years ago. For the past four decades, geologists have debated how Gondwana eventually broke up, developing a multitude of scenarios which can be loosely grouped into two schools of thought – one theory claiming the continent separated into many small plates, and a second theory claiming it broke into just a few large pieces. Dr Eagles, working with Dr Matthais König from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, has devised a new computer model showing that the supercontinent cracked into two pieces, too heavy to hold itself together.

Gondwana comprised of most of the landmasses in today’s Southern Hemisphere, including Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, and New Zealand, as well as Arabia and the Indian subcontinent of the Northern Hemisphere. Between around 250 and 180 million years ago, it formed part of the single supercontinent ‘Pangea’....>

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423185112.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. Shame its not a larger map

Were the Himalyas and the Tibetan Plateau created at the same time ? I know there are sea shells half way up Everest.

There's a link to the Appalchians too : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061117123212.htm Makes no mention of banjos though ? :)

[acmavm]

2. Appalachia/banjos? Nice.

:sarcasm:

[dipsydoodle]

5. Sarcasm...nope

I actually collect banjos - got a hundred or so. I also just happen to love old time american music a substantial amount of which just happens to come from that area. No Appalachians then maybe no music ?

[acmavm]

8. Oh phooey.

[dipsydoodle]

10. I bow to your better knowledge

of the roots of american popular music. Reading Cecile Conway's "African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia - A Study of Folk Traditions" might however straighten you out on a few things and help remove some of your bigotry.

[acmavm]

11. Don't be disingenuous. You were making a nasty little slur regarding

people from that area.

[dipsydoodle]

12. Incase you hadn't noticed

I'm English and you really shouldn't judge me in this way. Few over here even know where the Appalachians are so disparaging remarks on that subject are highly unlikely. Personally I hate the H word just as much as the N word both being derogatory. As is the case with most true lovers of music there is no "side" to me at all. If I'd thought my original remark could've been misconstrued in the way you express I simply would not have made it - it was a light hearted joke about the instrument that any of my friends would've understood - cause and effect : no mountains no banjos which to us would be tragic. If a guitarist made that joke then no we wouldn't find it funny either.

My knowledge of the area and the music may easily exceed yours. Songcatcher, a Sundance Festival Award winner, provides some perspective : http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1335034137/ and there are now loads of early field recordings on youtube e.g : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TgIeaGzeLQ&feature=related I think that's one of the songs The Carter Family kinda stole......hmmm. Here's the guy, Bascomb Lamar Lunsford ,who made a lot of those recordings all that time ago : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7nJ6HtXdnU .

Have a good day............truce ? :hi:

[acmavm]

13. Sorry. It sounded like a 'Deliverance' type remark.

[dipsydoodle]

14. I've just watched that clip

with the banjo and guitar to which I'd only ever listened to the music. Yes the fat guy does say some pretty awful things in the background. I'll be more careful in future to help avoid any similar misunderstandings.

[pokerfan]

4. The Himalayas are fairly recent

When Pangea broke up, India seperated from the eastern coast of Africa and was its own continent for a while before it rather rudely rammed into Asia forming the Himalayas:





And of course, with the recent news, vandals have attacked the wiki entry for Pangea. Now I wonder who would do a thing like that...

[dipsydoodle]

6. Cute giff

and thanks for the map too.

[pokerfan]

7. I wish it was bigger

the gif, I mean.

Here's one:


The current theory is that Pangaea is just the most recent of a series of supercontinents.

[dipsydoodle]

9. I can see now

how come some of the rock in Scotland had got a proven unique match with Nova Scotia. Thanks for that.

[villager]

3. Amazing! Considering Earth is, you know, 6,000 years old!

;-)

[eppur_se_muova]

15. DDDDDick Cheney shot it in the face. nt